Feb 27 2016, Denise Curliss's birthday, happy birthday Sis or as they say here, la multe ani! It is hard to buy a birthday card here, most are in Russian and we are not really sure what they say. Well, a lot of pictures as we went to Iasi, Romania to pick up our car, well for the next 2.5 months. Then we get to trade again. Picture 7 is a picture of the main road from Chisinau to Iasi, as well as a maxitaxi, how we got to Iasi. As you can see , the road is narrow, bumpy and is also winds a lot. How bumpy is it? Elder Cooley [he and his wife Nancy are in pic #3] had on a Fitbit and he "took 8000 steps" while we rode the maxitaxi. We got up early Wednesday, took a bus to Gara de Sud and bought a ticket to Iasi. Deb decided to use the facilities [3 lei] and could not quite make it work when squatting over a hole. Funny, although not funny with a bumpy road. Anyway, just before we left, the driver kicked the tires, decided one was low and detoured to get some air. We made it to Iasi after 5 hours with 2 stops to pick up more people and spent an hour at the border, getting checked over well on both sides. The Politia de Frontiere took their public relation training at Dachau. We were some worried about coming back , I tell you. Anyway, we made it to Iasi, had to find a MacDonalds to download a map with the free WIFI and find our way to the Church there. We waited in the cold for an hour, and finally someone came. We made our way to a hotel, a Ramada, very nice. The castle in the first few pictures is the main tourist attraction, but has been under renovation for some time; we did not get in. Got a few pictures. Next to it is a gigantic mall which looks so out of place in a relatively poor country- 4 huge levels and hundreds of stores. We also got solicited by our first gypsy; have seen none in Moldova. Picture 4 also has a statue of Stefan cel Mare or Stephen the Great. He is the hero of this area, lived in the 1400s and there are multiple statues, parks, streets, you name it, he is the man. We have a friend Steve Alston who would like his name, because he is also called Stephen the great and holy. Wow. Anyway, we got our car, got started early on Thursday and there were a lot of prayers earnestly said that morning. got to the border, friendly people on both sides, paid a car tax of 660 lei and were on our way in less than 20 minutes. Incredible blessing we will tell you. We were blessed and thankful. Pic #5 is of a shepherd herding his sheep, no fences anywhere. He waved and was happy to see us. Black sheep are common. Pic #6 is a shrine, Orthodox, which are very common along the roads, could be every kilometer or so. They are often alongside of wells, and are much more common in the country. Pic #8 is along the road- did I mention my Canadiens jacket bought in Moldova?  Last picture is a horse and wagon along the road, often on the highway. It was an adventure, and now we have a car to use, a stunning Opel Corsa, used but useful. The first time we parked in our underground parking, I had to squeeze it in , even my RAV4 would have been too big. So now we get to experience driving in our crazy city. We drove home from FHE with a nice young man who guided us thru the rain, found out the wipers need replacing bad. We had a very busy week and are feeling blessed. I should be able to resume some language training now we have found our feet, so to speak. Deb had her first hair cut, did well.  The lady was kind, spent over an hour, all for 230 lei or $12. Another hurdle leapt. We may be travelling more, this next week we teach some temple prep classes in addition to others. Did I mention the bread- Deb is already well addicted.